2015 Network News

February 2015
Volume 10, Number 2

From the CIO

CIO Sam Nixon

On behalf of the commonwealth, VITA has awarded a contract to Integris Applied for consulting services to help prepare for a new information technology (IT) infrastructure contract. The contract was awarded through the state's competitive bidding process. Integris will assess options and make recommendations for the transition to the next generation IT infrastructure services. Integris will be engaged for the next 11 months. The company is a highly specialized sourcing advisory consultant, and was the key consultant for Texas and Georgia during their respective IT sourcing. The selection committee said that Integris "hit the mark" on approach and customer inclusion. VITA Sourcing Strategy Director Perry Pascual will provide oversight of Integris' work, which kicks off this month, with a core team of VITA staff engaging daily and ensuring performance. Integris' statement of work (SOW) includes extensive customer and stakeholder outreach. Additionally, we are forming a steering committee to review and recommend the sufficiency and feasibility of the consultant's work products and deliverables. Representatives will come from the Information Technology Advisory Council (ITAC), CIO Council, Finance Secretariat, Senate Finance and House Appropriations committees and the VITA executive team.

As we proceed, technical and business staff from state agencies will be involved in the process. And, we will provide information throughout the process. For example, Perry and I recently provided information about VITA and the IT infrastructure services sourcing to more than 50 heads of state agencies or their representatives. Two sessions were held to provide agency heads the opportunity to ask questions and provide input regarding VITA and infrastructure sourcing when the current contract expires in 2019. Links to those presentations are provided below.

Again, I appreciate all that you do to support our IT efforts. Please let me know if you have questions or suggestions at cio@vita.virginia.gov.

e-textbooks can be purchased via VITA contract

A contract for electronic textbooks and supplemental resources that can be used by K-12 educational institutions across the commonwealth has been awarded by VITA. The contract offers access to electronic textbooks that have been preapproved by the Virginia Board of Education and resources aligned to the Standards of Learning (SOL). "VITA offers a wide variety of contracts for state agencies and localities that offer enhanced pricing as a result of bulk buying power and save staff time and costs of individually bidding for services," said CIO Nixon, who also serves as agency head at VITA. "This contract is of particular importance because it can benefit every school district and student across the state. It brings additional technology into the classroom." Additional information will be provided in a press release this month.

Text-to-911 info developed as guidance for localities

The E-911 Services Board has approved a text-to-911 white paper. The paper was developed by a subcommittee that worked for six months to research and make recommendations, which include current technologies available, pros and cons of the technology, potential costs for localities, tested deployment plans and lessons learned from other localities. The white paper details steps necessary to ensure that text-to-911 is available to all citizens throughout the commonwealth. CIO Sam Nixon serves on the board, which is supported by VITA staff. The board approved the report at its Jan. 9 meeting.

New VITA directors appointed

VITA has appointed four directors to lead units designed to enhance services to customers. The positions were developed as part of the ReVITAlization program, which includes an organizational re-design.

Gwen Anderson

Gwen is leading service management to establish and enhance Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) processes for managing and delivering VITA services. Anderson previously implemented and managed VITA's workplace collaboration service, featuring SharePoint. She is a business technology project manager with 25 years of experience in both the public and private sectors. She holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Hampton University and a master's degree in business administration from Averett University. Gwen is a certified project management professional and has an ITIL foundation certification.

Mary C. Clarke

Mary now is director of strategic planning, process and productivity. She will address internal improvements that include consistent, repeatable and measurable plans and processes to enhance customer services. She came to VITA as a customer account manager (CAM) after serving 20 years at the Department of Transportation. Her jobs there included managing IT governance and working on the Cardinal project, which is modernizing the commonwealth's financial management systems. She received a bachelor's degree in sociology and a graduate certificate in information systems from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Don Drew

Don now heads customer solutions and support. Among his tasks are establishing a single intake and fulfillment process, requirements gathering, solutions and proposals, work requests, demand management and supporting the CAM team in customer issues management. Drew worked as technology and communications services manager at Corrections for 17 years before being assigned to help evaluate vendors for the infrastructure sourcing effort in 2003. He joined VITA as messaging and directory service manager and became acting service delivery lead. He graduated from Virginia Tech with a double major in economics and history.

Steve Radabaugh

Steve is the new director of technology services. Radabaugh now is managing the portfolio of VITA IT infrastructure service offerings, the day-to-day operations involving technology, enterprise and business services, and vendor and contract management. He previously was cross-functional services manager and interacted with the IT infrastructure service provider for consistency across services. Prior to joining VITA, he was desktop engineering manager for end user services at Capital One. He attended East Carolina University where he earned a bachelor's degree in business administration with a concentration in management information systems.

Security conference slated April 2-3

The 2015 Commonwealth of Virginia Information Security Conference is scheduled April 2–3 and registration now is open. With the theme of "Unifying the Business Enterprise," the second annual security conference will focus on issues such as balancing security risks with business needs, regulatory compliance, governance, secure data sharing, threat management and lessons learned from data breaches. In addition to expert presentations, the conference program will feature keynote addresses by two nationally known speakers. Michael Fay, president and chief operating officer of Blue Coat, will kick off the first day. Karen S. Evans, national director for the U.S. Cyber Challenge (USCC), will lead activities on the second day.

The conference is geared toward information security officers, information security analysts and engineers, CIOs, IT auditors, privacy officers, risk officers, and other IT officers, managers and staff who have an interest in security or online privacy. Conference participants will have the opportunity to:

Expand their professional networks

Learn about security products and services

Maintain professional certifications

Registration for the conference, to be held at the Crowne Plaza in Richmond, is $125. Continental breakfast, lunch and afternoon refreshments will be provided. Registration deadline is March 20.

2015 Virginia Kids Online poster contest finalists announced

The finalists of the 2015 Virginia Kids Safe Online poster contest have been selected. K-12 students across the commonwealth submitted artwork to encourage other young people to use the Internet safely and securely. Winning entries will be submitted to the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center's (MS-ISAC) national contest for a chance to be featured in national, regional and state cyber and computer security awareness campaigns.

Mark your calendars for COVITS

The Commonwealth of Virginia Information Technology Symposium (COVITS) has been scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, Sept. 9 and 10, by Government Technology. This year's event will be at the Hilton Short Pump.

January Information Security Tips posted

It's that time of year to look ahead at security trends for 2015. MS-ISAC asked experts at the Center for Internet Security (CIS) to share their thoughts on issues for this upcoming year. Included in January's edition of Information Security Tips are some highlights of those topics.

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